Anxious wait for cuttlefish to breed

The breeding season of the giant cuttlefish in upper Spencer Gulf in South Australia is expected to begin within days.

Point Lowly is the only known place in the world where the cuttlefish species breeds in big numbers.

But those numbers were well down last season, with only 25,000 sighted, down from a previous annual aggregation of about 250,000.

Cuttlefish diver Tony Bramley said the water temperature needed only to drop another two degrees before breeding was expected to begin.

"I can't tell you how anxious we are while we wait for the 17 degrees to come along and the animals to arrive," he said.

'With a bad recruitment last year, another bad recruitment would pretty much mean, at the minimum, a very long road to recovery and at the worst it could be the end of this aggregation, it's that delicate."

The SA Government last year extended a protection area for the cuttlefish because of dwindling numbers.

Fishing crews said fur seals had been spotted in the breeding grounds of the giant cuttlefish and the SA Environment Department confirmed that was unusual.

There has been an environmental campaign in the region over a plan by BHP Billiton to build a desalination plant, which would pump its brine back into the upper Gulf.